Phat Fiber Giveaway Drawing

Hi phatties! Thanks for tuning in as we announce the winner of the full sized Dances With Wolves Sock Yarn Cinema package.

(August's Phat Fiber Box was themed "Meet Me at the Fair" so of course, we did a Sock Yarn Cinema package of yarn and goodies based on the musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Everyone who received one of our Phat samples was entered into a "raffle" for a full sized SYC package.)

And the winners are....

Ticket #0944002
Ticket #0944030
Ticket #0944025

Contact Kate to claim your prize: (kate@knititupyarns.com)

(For those of you who didn't get a Phat Fiber package with details about Sock Yarn Cinema, check out this post for more information, pricing, our 2009-2010 lineup, etc. Want to hear what current SYC members are talking about? Check out our Ravelry Group!)

Twitter Tuesdays

Just a reminder that every Tuesday we're announcing giveaways and shop discounts on our Twitter page here: twitter.com/knititup

We've already given away super cute stitch markers:

a set of our popular gift tags:

and today's giveaway: gorgeous yarn!

Some weeks it's a giveaway, some a secret sale discount, but every week makes it totally worth it to sign up for Twitter and check in on Tuesdays!

Books for Kids who have Fiber-Loving Mommies

So lately I've been noticing a whole lotta children's books that appeal to my fiber-loving soul. I'm thinking there's a good chance our new library's Children's Librarian is a knitter. I thought it would be fun to share my discoveries here since I think there are probably a few other fiber-obsessed (yes I upgraded myself from "loving" to "obsessed") mommies out there who would love to find yet another way to impart their obsession to their little ones.

For our first installment, here's a book I thought would be about knitting: Martha Makes Socks by Cambria Evans. Alas, it's about the anti-knitter: a moth who's making socks for dinner! And yet I can't help but identify with her love of all things wooly, and the way she devours scarves, two delicious balls of yarn and other fibery goodies. I guess she's just as fiber-obsessed as the rest of us, and while I read it with my daughter I felt oddly comforted that the moths trying to get at our fibers love them just as much as we do.

But they're still not invited to my stash!

Bamboo Mingus

So I've been dyeing yarns for quite awhile, but I've avoided the sock knitting bug till now. Not sure why really, I guess I love the instant gratification of big chunky knits. Plus, I give most of my knitting away to non-knitters or sell them in my etsy shop, so the time and effort of small yarns and complicated patterns just didn't make sense. I have a feeling that's all about to change!



Here are my very first pair of real socks (I've knit socks with turned heels and everything before - just in bigger yarns for quick gifts) knit up in my new Bamboozled sock yarn. I love these socks... let me count the ways...



1. I'm totally in love with them.

2. I'm realizing how fun it is to do a small but intricate project. It finishes relatively quickly, but is a total work of art!

3. I have a crazy large stash of handpainted sock yarn that I've been knitting scarves out
of - hah! Now I find myself dyeing more sock yarn because I want an exact colorway for a sock project I'm drooling over.

4. I love these socks!

5. Knitting a complicated pattern is oddly relaxing. You can't really focus on anything else so you kind of end up meditating on the pattern instead.

6. I must knit more soon, or else these babies will wear out quickly - I can't seem to take them off!

7. Hiya Hiya 9" circulars mean I can knit them in the round, on 1 pair of circs - total bliss!

8. Did I mention I luuuurve them?

9. I rarely knit for myself and these are a just-for-me luxury I can really sink my needles into.



Oh there's more, but I'll stop there. I'm so excited to finally take the dive and become a real sock fanatic! My new compulsions are all the sock KALs on ravelry. Right now I'm planning to knit every sock in Cookie A's new book, "Sock Innovation" over the next year - at least one pair a month. And I have about 5 other great sock knitting books I've collected over the years as I was hoping to catch the sock bug. I really think it was the Hiya Hiya needles that gave me the extra push - I'm just not a huge fan of double-pointed needles and hate magic loop. Hooray!